Skip to Content
800-533-8762
  • Careers
  • Newsroom
  • Health Care Professionals
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
UPMC
  • Find a Doctor
  • Services
    • Frequently Searched Services
    • Frequently Searched Services
      Allergy & Immunology Behavioral & Mental Health Cancer Ear, Nose & Throat Endocrinology Gastroenterology Heart & Vascular Imaging Neurosciences Orthopaedics
      Physical Rehabilitation Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery Primary Care Senior Services Sports Medicine Telemedicine Transplant Surgery Walk-In Care Weight Management Women’s Health
      See all Services
    • Services by Region
    • Find a UPMC health care facility close to you quickly by browsing by region.
      UPMC in Western Pa. Western Pa. and New York
      UPMC in Central Pa. Central Pa.
      UPMC in North Central Pa. North Central Pa.
      UPMC in Western Md. Maryland & West Virginia
    • See All Services
  • Locations
    • Locations by Type
    • Locations by Type
      UPMC hospitals
      Hospitals
      Physical Therapy
      Physical Therapy
      Urgent care
      Walk-In Care
      UPMC Outpatient Centers
      Outpatient Centers
      UPMC Imaging Services
      Imaging
      Community Health Centers
      Community Health Centers
      See All Locations
    • Locations by Region
    • Locations by Region
      UPMC in Southwest Pa. Southwest Pa.
      UPMC in North Central Pa. North Central Pa.
      UPMC in Northwest Pa and Ny. Northwest Pa. & Western N.Y.
      UPMC in West Central Pa. West Central Pa.
      UPMC in Central Pa. Central Pa.
      UPMC in Western Md. Maryland & West Virginia
    • See All Locations
  • Patients & Visitors
    • Patient & Visitor Resources
    • Patient & Visitor Resources
      Patients and Visitors Resources Pay a Bill Classes & Events Medical Records Health Library Patient Information
      Patient Portals Privacy Information Shared Decision Making Traveling Patients Visitor Information
      Man uses mobile phone
      Pay a Bill
      Nurse reviews medical chart
      Request Medical Records
  • Patient Portals
  • Find Covid-19 updates
  • Schedule an appointment
  • Request medical records
  • Pay a bill
  • Learn about financial assistance
  • Find classes & events
  • Send a patient an eCard
  • Make a donation
  • Volunteer
  • Read HealthBeat blog
  • Explore UPMC Careers
Skip to Content
UPMC
  • Patient Portals
  • For Patients & Visitors
    • Find a Doctor
    • Locations
    • Patient & Visitor Resources
    • Pay a Bill
    • Services
    • More
      • Medical Records
      • Financial Assistance
      • Classes & Events
      • HealthBeat Blog
      • Health Library
  • About UPMC
    • Why UPMC
    • Facts & Stats
    • Supply Chain Management
    • Community Commitment
    • More
      • Financials
      • Support UPMC
      • UPMC Apps
      • UPMC Enterprises
      • UPMC International
  • For Health Care Professionals
    • Physician Information
    • Resources
    • Education & Training
    • Departments
    • Credentialing
  • Careers
  • Contact Us
  • Newsroom
  • UPMC >
  • Media Relations >
  • News Releases >
  • 072822 brainvocalcues
Media Relations
News Releases
Central Pa. News
North Central Pa. News
Contact Us
Experts
Community-Focused News
Media Kits
Media RSS
Media Relations
News Releases
Central Pa. News
North Central Pa. News
Contact Us
Experts
Community-Focused News
Media Kits
Media RSS

Specialized Brain Regions Recognize Vocal Cues That Don’t Involve Speech

For Journalists

Anastasia (Ana) Gorelova
Senior Manager, Science Writing
412-647-9966
gorelovaa@upmc.edu

Sheila Davis
Manager
412-313-6070
davissn2@upmc.edu

Want to Make an Appointment or Need Patient Information?
Contact UPMC at

1-800-533-8762.

Go to Find a Doctor to search for a UPMC doctor.

2021 PITT HS horizon

7/28/2022

PITTSBURGH – Specific parts of the brain recognize complex cues in human vocal sounds that do not involve speech, such as crying, coughing or gasping—found researchers from the University of Pittsburgh. 

 

In a paper published today in PLOS Biology, scientists showed that two areas of the auditory cortex are specialized to recognize human voice sounds that, unlike speech, do not carry linguistic meaning. Rather, they help us react to sound cues that allow people to instantly identify characteristics of the person who is speaking, such as gender, approximate age, mood and even height—all without seeing them.  

Abel_Taylor_MD“Voice perception is similar to how humans recognize different faces,” said senior author Taylor Abel, M.D., assistant professor of neurological surgery at Pitt. “Voices that don’t include speech—for example, a baby’s cries, coughing, moaning or exclamations—allow us to gain a lot of information about the person making those vocalizations in the absence of other information about the person.”

 

Humans live in a world full of sounds, where noises from the environment shape our daily interactions with our surroundings and other people. And even though speech is one of the unique aspects of human communication that does not have direct analogs in the animal world, people do not rely on speech alone to convey auditory information. 

 

Non-speech aspects of voice serve a vital role in our communication toolbox, expanding human ability to express oneself accurately and dynamically. Part of that expression is subconscious, and part of it may be intentionally modulated by the speaker to convey a wide spectrum of emotion, such as happiness, fear or disgust. 

 

Humans are born with the capacity for voice recognition—in fact, babies can recognize their mother’s voice while still in the womb—but that capacity is dynamic, and it continues to evolve throughout adolescence. 

 

Abel, who is a practicing pediatric neurosurgeon specializing in epilepsy, had a unique opportunity to peek at how the human brain responds to voice. 

To identify regions of the brain that are responsible for generating seizures in some people with epilepsy, neurosurgeons may implant temporary electrodes into the brain to carefully record its electrical signals. This practice allows physicians to precisely locate the site of the seizure and eventually remove that part of the brain, while sparing the surrounding healthy tissue.

 

voice_nonvoice
Eight patients with epilepsy consented to participate in a study where Abel and his team used the implanted electrodes to measure which areas of the auditory cortex responded when voice sounds—grunts, yelps, laughs—were presented to the patients. 

 

Using a combination of direct brain recordings and computational modeling, investigators were able to describe in unprecedented detail how voice representation evolves over time and decode when a voice sound had been played based on patterns of neural activity from the auditory cortex. 

 

Researchers found that most of that activity came from two regions in the auditory cortex—folds of the brain’s gray matter known as superior temporal gyrus (STG) and superior temporal sulcus (STS). While prior brain imaging studies showed that the STG and STS are important for voice processing, this study demonstrates that these regions represent voice as a distinct sound category rather than simply representing the physical or acoustic aspects of voice.  

 

This new knowledge about the organization of the voice-recognition system wired in our brains will enable researchers to better understand neurological disorders such as schizophrenia or autism, where voice perception is altered or missing, and even help create better voice assistant devices, which are currently good at recognizing speech but less adept at differentiating between several speakers. 

 

Kyle Rupp, Ph.D., is lead author on the paper; additional authors are Jasmine Hect, Madison Remick, Avniel Ghuman, Ph.D., and Bharath Chandrasekaran, Ph.D., all from Pitt; and Lori Holt, Ph.D., of Carnegie Mellon University.

 

This research was supported by the National Institutes of Health (grants R21DC019217-01A1 awarded and 2R01DC013315-07). 


Left photo:

PHOTO DETAILS: (click images for high-res versions)  

CREDIT: UPMC

CAPTION: Taylor Abel, M.D.

 

Right photo:

PHOTO DETAILS: (click images for high-res versions)

CREDIT: Taylor Abel and Kyle Rupp

CAPTION: Distinct regions of the auditory cortex are specialized at recognizing voice sounds (shown in dark blue) and do not respond to non-voice acoustic signals

UPMC
200 Lothrop Street Pittsburgh, PA 15213

412-647-8762 800-533-8762

Patients And Visitors
  • Find a Doctor
  • Locations
  • Pay a Bill
  • Patient & Visitor Resources
  • Disabilities Resource Center
  • Services
  • Medical Records
  • No Surprises Act
  • Price Transparency
  • Financial Assistance
  • Classes & Events
  • Health Library
Health Care Professionals
  • Physician Information
  • Resources
  • Education & Training
  • Departments
  • Credentialing
Newsroom
  • Newsroom Home
  • Inside Life Changing Medicine Blog
  • News Releases
About
  • Why UPMC
  • Facts & Stats
  • Supply Chain Management
  • Community Commitment
  • Financials
  • Supporting UPMC
  • HealthBeat Blog
  • UPMC Apps
  • UPMC Enterprises
  • UPMC Health Plan
  • UPMC International
  • Nondiscrimination Policy
Life changing is...
Follow UPMC
  • Contact Us
  • Website/Email Terms of Use
  • Medical Advice Disclaimer
  • Privacy Information
  • Active Privacy Alerts
  • Sitemap
© 2025 UPMC I Affiliated with the University of Pittsburgh Schools of the Health Sciences Supplemental content provided by Healthwise, Incorporated. To learn more, visit healthwise.org
Find Care
Providers
Video Visit
Portal Login

Chat Keywords List

  • cancel or exit: Stops your conversation
  • start over: Restarts your current scenario
  • help: Shows what this bot can do
  • terms: Shows terms of use and privacy statement
  • feedback: Give us feedback
Continue
Chat with UPMC
RESTART
MENU
CLOSE